POP!
by PicklesandPancakes17
Summary: Sonny has made up her mind. Being a virgin is getting in the way of holding on to a boyfriend she really likes. So who better to lose it with than her best guy friend Chad? Theyve been buds forever. It'll be completely pressure free. SORRY GUYS BUT IM DISCONTINUING THE STORY.. SORRY FOR THE INCONVINIENCE..
1. Chapter 1

POP!

**A/N: I just want to say that this is my third fanfiction and that the others went down the tubes unfortunately. So I really hope this one catches your attention. The characters are a little OOC.**

**Disclaimer: I dont own Sonny with a chance or Jonas, Hannah Montana, Wizards or Zac Efron. :(**

**WELL ENJOY!! HERES THE FIRST CHAPTER!!**

* * *

"My life is total suckola," I moaned, clutching my head in my hands.

The bell hadn't rung on the first day of school, but already I knew the year was hopeless.

Tawni and Chad exchanged amused glances.

"What's wrong?" Chad asked in mock alarm. "Did you forget to bring lip gloss with you? Is someone else carrying the _exact same_ backpack? Did you just realize that your earring don't match your socks?"

Tawni held back a laugh. "Girl, I can lend you some gloss, but if it's the earring thing? I'm afraid that's between you and Mr. Cooper here."

She gestured towards Chad, who shook his head sadly.

"First of all," I said, poking my fingers through the holes in Chad's fraying T-shirt, "there's nothing wrong with taking a bit of care with one's appearance-"

"Those holes are a statement," he protested. "Its retro grunge."

"Second, lip gloss is so not what I'm upset about. Eric and I" --I paused to make sure they were paying attention-- " Eric and I broke up last night."

I hung my head low and opened my arms for the hugs of consolation that were due for me.

But there were no hugs forthcoming. My arms hung mid-air. I stood there, looking like some kind of demented scarecrow.

I glanced up. Chad and Tawni gaped at me, their expressions blank.

"Didn't you hear what I said?" I asked. "Eric and I are finished. Over! I'm never going to see him again."

I stuck my arms out again. This time more forcefully. Still just vacant stares. I dropped my arms to my sides.

"_You guys,_" I wailed. "My heart is broken!"

"It is not," Tawni said. " You never liked Eric to begin with."

"Yes, I did!" I said, shocked. "From the moment I met him, I knew that-"

"You met him because he dropped a Fudgesicle in your lap," Chad reminded me. "He's a walking calamity. Living proof of the theory of evolution. In fact, I believe it was you who said,'The fry guy at McDonald's better be worried, because as soon as Eric graduates, he's going to set the world of fast food on fire...'"

"'...unless he sets the restaurant on fire first!'" Tawni finished, cracking up.

Okay, so Eric wasn't exactly the smoothest operator around. And whenever we went out, I was sure to end up rolling my eyes at his, shall we say, _lack of poise. _One time, I actually lost a contact. But still...

"I just- I thought that things between us might work out, you know? I thought he was going to be _the one_."

"The one what?" Chad asked.

"The one- everything. We'd have sex. Fall in love. Go to prom."

"Prom. It's a stupid tradition, and what's the point?" Tawni said in a Molly Ringwald voice.

Tawni and I are obsessed with _Pretty in Pink_. We watch it at least once a week. Chad makes fun of us for liking it- He's a total film snob. But he always hangs around whenever we shove the disc into the DVD player. We're pretty sure that deep down, he loves Molly as much as we do.

"Besides, it's senior year! Our last year together," Tawni reminded me. "Boys just complicate things. That's why I'm swearing off them. You don't want to be tied down with some lame boyfriend when you could be out having fun with me and Chad, do you?"

I couldn't help it. I snorted.

"What was that for?" Tawni asked.

"Easy for _you_ to say," I told her. "Every guy you meet falls head over heels in love with you."

Tawni is my friend, make no mistake about it, but she is like a little pixie-- all teen sized and green eyed and perfect. Guys practically line up to ask her out. If she wasn't so cool, I'm certain I'd feel compelled to hate her.

Me? Even in flip flops, I tower over every boy in school. And there are, of course, my other impediments- brown, impossible hair that curl up in about a hundred different directions, paler than pale skin with the bluish-white tinge of skim milk...

It all adds up to guys _not_ throwing themselves at my feet in the hallways of Sterling Prep. At least, not purposely.

"Eric was my only shot at having a boyfriend this year." I groaned. "_Now_ who am I suppose to go out with? No one here at Sterling is even remotely interested in me."

"Sonny, that's crazy talk." Chad slung a comforting arm across my shoulders. "Any guy at this school would kill to go out with you."

I frowned, disbelieving. "Really? Then how come no one ever asks?"

"They're intimidated," Chad answered promptly. "You're so gorgeous, your unapproachable. Tell me, how does it feel being the hottest person in the room?"

"Must be a lot of pressure," Tawni observed, "even without glossy lips."

"Stop," I said with a smile. And even though I was still as boyfriendless as I had been moments before, somehow I felt a little better.

Let me tell you a little bit about Chad, Tawni and me. We have been best friends for literally ever.

Tawni has lived next door to me since we were five, and her parents are crazy. I mean, certifiable. They keep seperating and getting back together, over and over. She never knows when she gets home from school if her dad is living with her that day or not. To escape the asylum, she spends all her free time at my house.

My parents? Totally boring. They never, ever fight. That's why, when my older sister, Dallas, graduated high school last year, Tawni and I came up with a plan. Tawni would move into Dalla's bedroom and live with us. Then her parents could call up and make appointments to see her on the days they weren't throwing plates at each other. It was the perfect solution for Tawni's parental woes.

Unfortunately, Dallas screwed up, in tremendous fashion. She had her heart so dead set on going to CSU (California State University) that she didn't bother to apply to any other colleges. When CSU rejected her, she was stuck living at home for a year, applying to other colleges while alternately sulking in her room and working at Nine West. In addition to becoming Hollywood's poster child for safety schools, Dallas also wrecked Tawni's friendly takeover of her bedroom. So Tawni made do with coming over after school every single day, just the way she always had.

I first met Chad in first grade strings class. In our school, everyone has to learn an instrument, and the two of us were assigned the violin. We were so bad at it that while the rest of the class tackled Chopin, the two of us were sent to a rehearsal room to practice clapping in four-four time.

Chad started coming over everyday to practice violin. Five minutes later Tawni would show up. Before we knew it, the three of us were inseperable.

Chad and I are what you might call artsy types. We favor black clothes; We like our music alternative. Tawni is more mainstream. She's even been known to sport the occasional burst of pink- but I guess when you live in a crazy house, you want everything else in your life to be as completely normal as possible.

This is my life, thus far, with my friends. I love them, but I want more to my social life. I want romance. I want excitement. I want a _boyfriend._

And now I don't know where I'm going to find one.

* * *

**A/N: Hope you guys liked it.. :)**


	2. Chapter 2

POP!

**CHAPTER 2**

I really thought Eric and I would last," I told Chad and Tawni as we strolled into homeroom.

Chad groaned. "Are we still talking about this?"

"Sonny," Tawni said gently, "_none_ of your boyfriends last."

"I know!" I whimpered. "And I can't figure out why."

Tawni and Chad exchanged a glance.

"What?" I demanded.

"Um, haven't you noticed that there's kind of a... pattern to your breakups?" Chad asked.

I thought about it. "Not really. I just know that I get myself all worked up liking a guy, and then things fall apart."

"Yes, but _when_ do they fall apart?" Tawni asked, giving me a significant look.

"Beats me. When he starts acting like a jerk?" I guessed.

"Or when you.." She made a cryptic gesture with her hands, then sat back, looking pleased with either her psychological astuteness or her miming skills.

"When I _what?"_

Chad and Tawni exchanged another glance, and it was all I could do not to knock their heads together like a pair of coconuts. "What?!"

Tawni rolled her eyes. "You always dump a guy as soon as things get physical."

I blinked. That wasn't what I was expecting to hear. "That's not true! I don't do that," I argued.

"You do," Tawni insisted. "Every single time."

"No way. That's crazy."

"Sonny, think about it," Chad said, slipping into a nearby desk. "Anytime you date a guy for more than a month, you start to get all freaky and uncomfortable. The next thing you know, your single again."

Tawni was nodding so vigorously, I wouldn't have been surprised if she snapped a few vertebrae.

"Exactly!" she crowed. "Your afraid of sex!"

I cringed, then whispered, attempting to keep the conversation at an appropriate volume. " Oh my god. What are you talking about? I'm _dying_ to have sex. I _can't wait_ to have sex. Im certainly not afraid of it."

"You are!" Tawni insisted. "Look, you've had, what, four boyfriends?"

"Five," I corrected.

She did a quick count on her fingers. "Eric, Alex, Hayden, James--Who's the fifth?"

"Andrew Snipes."

Tawni let out a dismissive little chuckle. "You can't count Andrew."

"Why not? He was my first love."

"But you were eleven! You never even kissed! Which, come to think of it, proves my point. You broke up with _**all**_ those guys as soon as things started getting physical."

"That can't be right," I protested weakly, but my mind was reeling. Did I do that? I frowned, considering....

Andrew was my sixth grade sweetheart. We never actually went out on a date, but he would stop by my table at lunch everyday and give me half of his dessert or a bag of Cheetos or something.

And once we sat next to each other at a Ranger Danger assembly. He hooked his pinky around mine as the lights went down and kept it there until we were dismissed back to class.

Things were heaven between Andrew and me until that faithful day they gave the sixth graders The Talk. Boys were herded off to the gym, while we girls shuffled over to the auditorium to hear the Plain Facts about periods and boys and "no means no."

The problem wasn't so much what the school nurse _**said**_ during The Talk-- I'd heard all that before, from my older sister. But the publicness of it was unbearable.

And the thought of _**doing**_ any of the things she talked about-- When every girl in my class now knew the clinical terms for them? Well, it was just too disturbing.

I could not keep encouraging Andrew's affection when, obviously, i was going to have to become a nun. I broke things off that afternoon.

James came next, when I was thirteen. At that point I'd gotten over being freaked out by sex ed, and James and I would kiss every chance we got. We had been together three weeks when it all went south.

By eighth grade most of the girls in my class had started wearing bras, even though the majority of them didn't need them yet.

Let's just say I needed one. Boy, did I need one.

By the time I turned thirteen, I was filling a C cup. It was completely mortifying, and even though my mom swore that one day I would appreciate being "perfectly proportioned," I was hypersensitive. I didn't want anyone to notice my boobs--especially James.

Around the same time the girls were starting to get boobs, the boys were trying to figure out new ways to torture hands down favorite method? Snapping Bras.

And while Im sure it was annoying and embarrasing for the girls in AA training bras when someone snuck up on them in the hallway, I strapped myself into a big old honking Olga minimizer every morning. It had three rows of hooks in the back and enough elastic to shrink wrap half the school. The first time a boy snapped my bra, it left a welt that didn't go away for _**hours.**_

So I took to walking in the hallways sideways, with my back pressed against the lockers, to keep it from happening again.

Of course, this only added fuel to the fire. It was so clear that I wanted to avoid having my bra snapped that it became the chief pursuit of practically every boy in school.

I upped my defenses-- wearing a thick parka over my clothes all day so boys could't get a handhold. I enlisted Chad or Tawni to walk directly behind me at all times, with strict instructions to break anyone who tried to reach me.

And it worked-- I remained snap free, until the day James stopped me after school and asked me if I wanted to go to the Snowflake Dance. I was so excited, I threw my arms around him and gave him a hug.

He hugged me back, his arms encircling me, holding me tight. And just when I thought I would burst with happiness, his hands wandered to the center of my back, grabbed my bra strap, and --_**snap! **_

Needless to say, that I didn't go to the dance with James. I didn't go anywhere with him, ever again.

My boobs were the cause of my breakup with my third boyfriend too. It was during a slow dance at the Sophomore Spring Formal. Hayden and I were swaying to Usher's "U got it bad," and out of nowhere he put his hand on front of my dress, right on top of my boob. It startled me so badly I let out a yelp and jumped back about three feet.

Hayden looked at me like I was a lunatic. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Sorry," I said, moving back into his arms and trying to pick up the rhythm. "You just-- surprised me is all."

"Sorry," He said, then he moved his hand so it was hovering about a centimeter over my chest. "Do you mind if I--"

I blushed, to shy to meet his eyes, and gave a little shrug.

"Whatever," I mumbled, and he set his hand back down.

I guess it felt ok-- I mean it wasn't exactly rocking my world, but it didn't gross me out.

I couldn't imagine that Hayden was getting much of a thrill out of it either, but when I looked at him, he had his eyes shut and a dreamy smile on his face.

He nuzzled his nose in my ear, then whispered, "Your boobs are so big."

I stiffened, horrified. "Are you kidding?"

"No. They're enormous. Like... like two sexy pillows."

"God, shut up," I said. I grabbed his hand and moved it back to my shoulder. My whole body flushed warm and suddenly it was hard to breathe.

Hayden opened his eyes, surprised and annoyed. "Hey, what's your problem?"

My problem was that I felt like a freak, and any attention to my deformities made me want to lock myself in my bedroom forever.

And besides.... sexy _**pillows**_?

It was mortifying, but there was no way I was telling Hayden that.

Instead I punched him. Right there on the dance floor.

Next contestant, please?

Alex and I started going out the day after I turned sixteen. We broke up because we were making out on the couch in his basement when he let out a little gasp, jumped up really quickly, and ran into the bathroom.

I only knew what had happened because I saw the same thing in an episode of _**Everwood.**_

I also knew that once Alex cleaned himself up, there was no way I'd be able to face him without bursting into a fit of hysterical laughter.... or tears. So I straightned my shirt, grabbed my backpack, and by the time Alex got back to the couch, I had already disappeared.

That bought me to Eric. And honestly, I defy anyone to stay "in the mood" after they've seen the crusty critters living inside _**those**_ nostrils.

But as much as I hate to admit it, Chad and Tawni had a point. Every single one of those relationships had been ruined by an attempt to get physical.

Oh my God. Was I really afraid of sex?

"This is terrible!" I groaned. "I'm-- I'm an _**ice queen**_!"

"You are not an ice queen," Chad said. "You're just-- selective."

"Besides," Tawni put in. "_**Anybody **_would be repulsed by the guys you've dated."

"Thanks," I said, making a face. Then I stopped short. "But you guys, what if I found the perfect guy, like, tomorrow? Personality, looks-- a total eleven. What happens then? Are you telling me I'll blow it the instant things start getting serious?"

Tawni just looked at me, her eyes pitying.

I put my head in my hands. "I'll _**never**_ have a decent relationship. Ever."

"Sure, you will," Chad said, punching me on the shoulder playfully.

"I won't," I insisted. "Sex is a part of any long term relationship, and I'm too afraid to have it! I'm already the only virgin at school!"

Tawni blew out an exasperated breath. "Sonny, you are _**not.**_"

"Yeah? Name another," I challenged.

She put a finger to her lips, pretending to think hard.

"Hmmm, who could it be?" she asked. "Oh, wait! I know-- _**Chad**_."

Chad pulled Tawni's Billabong hoodie up over her head.

"Thanks. Thanks for bringing that up."

It was true-- Chad and I are the only virgins left at Sterling Prep. And deep down, I knew that Chad's capital V bothered him too. He just... hid it better.

And it isnt like Chad's hideous-- even with his blond hair, which I personally think is kinda cute. He just has this rumpled, intellectual hipster thing going, which doesn't attract the glamour girls who make up most of the Sterling student body.

Hmmm. When I thought about it, Chad and I were in the same boat.

"What's the big deal anyway?" Tawni asked, tilting her head back to see from under her giant hood. "Better to be a virgin than do it with the wrong guy. Sex sucks if you aren't in love.'

She paused, then added softly, "Just look at my parents."

Chad and I exchanged a panicked look.

Tawni reached into her backpack and calmy took out a notebook and a pen.

Slowly, I let out a breath.

Crisis averted. Tawni's parents were seperated-- this week. And when it came to dicussing them, she could get explosive-- quickly.

The bell rang then and Ms. Popham, our homeroom teacher, called the class to order. She gave us the usual "welcome back" speech, then passed out a blizzard of locker assignments, permission slips, emergency forms, and class schedules.

I was filling out my "student information sheet" when I was struck by a thought. This was the very last first day of high school I would ever have. And before high school was through, I wanted a real boyfriend. I wanted a real relationship. And if I was going to have one and hold on to him, I had to do something.

More specifically, I had to get over my fear of doing "it."

And fast.

* * *

**A/N: Hope you guys liked it!!! I'll be continuing this story and I hope I get reviews cuz it took a long time to set this puppy up. Lol. Love you guys!!!**


	3. Chapter 3

POP!

**A/N: So sorry I haven't updated!!!!!!! They cut off my internet and I couldn't find a way to post the chapter. And just for you guys its pretty long. And thank you for all the reviews I really appreciate it. Love you guys so much.!**

**Chapter 3**

Is this some kind of sick joke?" I asked, staring down at the piece of paper in my hand.

"Maybe we offended someone in the administration office," Tawni said. " Maybe were being punished."

Chad shut his eyes and leaned back against his locker. People swirled around us, on their way to their first class of the new year.

"Worst. Schedule. Ever." He groaned.

"Second-period lunch?" I asked. "This has got to be a mistake. I can't have lunch at nine in the morning!"

"Oh my God, you guys. Fourth period gym?" Tawni wailed. "Do you know how much time it takes me to get my hair and make up right in the morning? And they expect me to get all sweaty in the middle of the day? No. I just wouldn't do it."

"We don't exactly have a choice," I pointed out.

"Oh yes, we do," Tawni argued. " They can't make me sweat if I dont want to. I'll-- I'll say I have cramps."

"Yeah, like Ms. Vandameer is going to let that stop you." I lowered my voice and squared my shoulders in what I thought was a pretty decent imitation. "Exercise releases endorphins. That'll make those cramps hit the road, jack!"

Tawni dropped her head. "This is a disaster."

"Welcome to Senior year," Chad said.

The bell rang for first period, and Tawni headed off to drama class. Chad and I made our way to the temporary building that housed the band room.

The first day of orchestra is always tense, with everyone having to sight-read a section of whatever our conductor, Mr. Murphy, is currently enamored with. Its a mini-audition to determine who will land the coveted "first chair" for their instrument.

In the seven years Chad and I have been tacklin the violin,neither of us has managed to produce anything remotely resembling a melody, so we are happily reassigned to our end-of-the row sixth- and seventh-chair positions. We used to challenge each other for sixth chair on a regular basis, but Mr. Murphy finally threw up his hands and said we were tied for last, so it didnt matter who sat where.

While the other kids were nervously studying their sheet music and applying rosin to their bows, Chad and I slouched back against the percussion section and tried to talk softly.

"This year is not going according to plan," I muttered.

Chad snickered. " Your that upset about second-period lunch?"

"No. Im upset that I apparently have a _**giant phobia **_about sex, which you and Tawni were aware of all along."

Chad stuck out his tounge and made a gagging sound.

"Come on, Sonny. It's not that big a deal."

"It _**is**_ a big deal! How am I going to have a boyfriend if Im so freaked out about sex that I never have sex at all?"

Chad considered. "Well, your aware of your problem now. So, like, maybe if you go out with a guy and start to act all weird, you'll recognize what your doing-- and stop doing it."

I considered this for a moment. "Do you really think that could work?"

He nodded. "Definitely. The first step to fixing a problem is admitting you _**have**_ a problem."

For the first time that day, hope bubbled up inside me.

"And after I've done it once, the problem is solved, right? Because as soon as Im _**not **_a virgin, I wouldn't have to freak about losing my virginity anymore."

"Right. The pressure's off," Chad said. "But Sonny?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't get back together with Eric, okay? He's not good enough to be your first time."

I grinned at Chad. "Not a chance. I'm admitting I have a problem-- with trying to lose my virginity to a guy whose nostrils are big enough to drive Volkswagen through."

Chad let out a bark of laughter, which made Mr. Murphy glare at us.

"So, do you think it worked?" I asked when Mr. Murphy had turned away. "Am I cured of Eric-itis?"

"Let's see. Does this turn you on?" Chad pushed his nose up with his fingers so I could see inside his nostrils. He moved his face toward mine like he was going to kiss me or, more likely, wipe boogers on me.

I shrieked and pushed him away, and we both collasped into our seats, trying to stifle our giggles.

We were the first people in the cafeteria at lunchtime, so we snagged the completely primed table by the courtyard, laying claim to it as ours for the duration of the school year.

Where you sit at lunch can make or break your whole day. Most of the tables are banked against the glass wall that seperates the cafeteria from the administration offices, and nothing kills your appetite like trying to choke down a pizza bagel with the school secretaries glaring at you or principle bound delinquents giving you the finger through the glass.

There are only two tables in the entire cafeteria where you can get a bit of privacy, and landing one of them was the first good thing about senior year..

"Oh no, you too?" A voice called.

I turned and found our buds Miley and Selena entering the cafeteria. We shoved over to give them room, and they dropped into chairs next to us.

"Second period lunch." Miley sighed. " I thought being a senior was suppose to have its privileges."

"Ugh. This is disgusting." Tawni groaned, picking at her hot dog and tater tots. " It's too early to eat this kind of food."

I had to agree. Then a thought occurred to me. "Hey, if we dont ever feel like eating lunch, maybe we'll lose weight without having to diet!"

Selena immediately put down her hotdog. "That? Is genius."

"We're actually lucky to have gotten second period lunch," I continued. "It's like the school has given us the gift of anorexia."

"Alright!" Tawni cheered. "Glass half full." she clinked her can of Diet Coke against mine.

Chad reached over and snatched the Tater Tots off my tray.

"Well, _**I**_ don't want to lose weight," he said. "I'm bulking up. Gonna go out for the football team this year.

"Oh, really?" Selena asked, eyeing Chad's half pumped arms and mid size chest.

"Hell, Yeah!" Chad said. He pushed his sleeves and kissed his biceps, flexing the muscle. "When Coach sees these cannons, he's gonna make me quarterback."

We all laughed. Then a nasal, saccharine voice broke through our conversation.

"No _**way. **_This table is _**ours**_."

I looked up, dreading the sight of the voice's owner.

Sterling Prep has the same annoying social structure as every other high school in America, and Stella Mallone considers herself Sterling's queen bee. She's beautiful, popular, incredibly nasty, and hands down my least favorite person in the entire known world.

"Excuse me?" I said.

"That's our table," Stella repeated. "The Pradas had it saved."

That's another thing. Ever since they saw _**Mean Girls**_, Stella and her friends decided their clique needed a name to make them even more elitist and stuck up. They'd started calling themselves "the Pradas," which was ridiculous in a million ways. Not the least of which was the fact that there was nothing even vaguely Prada-ish about Stella's Shetland sweater and A-line skirt.

Thankfully, the name hadn't stuck-- except with Stella and her most pathetic hangers on. The rest of the cliques in school, who remained happily unmonikered, just refered to Stella's crowd as "the popular kids" or, more frequently, "those bitches."

But the _**most**_ repulsive thing about Stella's crowd was that they were all a bunch of enthusiastic, unrepentant, overly spirited _**joiners.**_

They were the chairs of the homecoming comittee, the heads of the cheerleading squad, the captain of the sports teams, and the stars of the school play.

To the faculty and administration, they were the cream of the crop-- the pride of the school.

But to us, they were just.... fake. We protested Stella and all her ilk by remaining steadfastly and resolutely _**anti-join.**_

I mean, it's not like we were outcasts or loners. We all got good grades, got along with our teachers, and spent the seven hours we were required to be at Sterling quite happily.

But life outside school was so much more interesting that anything inside. I didn't really see why I should waste time joining a club in the name of "school spirit."

"You can't save tables," I informed Stella. "Sit somewhere else."

Stella narrowed her eyes at me. "Nice outfit, Sonny, Where did you get it? Out of the bin at the homeless shelter?"

Stella's bestfriend, Macy, let out a snort. "Don't be mean Stel," She said. "It's not her fault her father doesn't have a job."

My father, for the record, is an artist. He paints huge abstracts that hang in offices and galleries all over the country.

He even has one at the MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He has his painting studio at home and sets his own hours. But all the way back in elementary school, the girls in Stella's group decided that since my dad was available to chaperone field trips and volunteer as room parent, it meant he was unemployed. They added that to the ammunition they used to torment me.

When I was younger, I would fly into a rage when they'd insult my dad. And to be honest, it still stung. I was about to let loose with some choice words, but before I could say anything, Chad jumped in.

"Jeez, Macy, how do breathe through that thing?" He asked, staring at her nose.

Macy Misa had the distinction of being the youngest person in Hollywood to have gotten cosmetic surgery-- a nose job when she was in third grade. Still, she tried to pretend that her face wasn't store bought and would scream at anyone who suggested otherwise.

"Shut up, loser," She retorted.

Chad grinned. "Ooh, good one."

Stella, meanwhile, was getting impatient. She stamped her ballet-flat-clad foot angrily. "Are you freaks going to move or not?" she demanded.

"Not," we all chorused.

She gave us a murderous look, but there was nothing she could do. She flipped us the bird, turned, and stalked over to the other good table to bully the chess club geeks into moving.

Chad put a hand over his heart. "When we graduate, I'm really going to _**miss**_ her."

We all laughed, but the smiles faded from our faces when we looked down at the food on our trays. Nine a.m. really _**was**_ a ridiculous time for lunch.

We had calculus next, and the teacher jumped right into the lesson, barely giving us time to get settled at our desks. The board swam with numbers, equations, and formulas.

Don't teachers realize that no one is ready to start learning anything until at least the second day of school?

At least we'd get a break in gym, I thought, but apparently I had underestimated the depths of Mrs. Vandermeer's sadism.

Ignoring protests that none of us had our gym clothes, Ms. Vandermeer told us to head out onto the floor and find a partner for "pillow polo," a game that consisted of trying to knock your partner down by whacking her with a what looked like a gigantic Q-tip.

"That is so wrong," Tawni whispered.

"Diabolical," I agreed.

The two of us grudgingly stomped out onto the gym floor and picked up our Q-Tips-- wooden sticks about six feet long with bright yellow and red padding on the ends.

"Ms. Vandermeer is a monster," Tawni muttered under her breath. "How can she force us to get all sweaty in our clothes? We're going to have to go around stinking all day."

"Um, ever hear of deodorant?" I asked, and whacked her across the butt with my Q-tip.

"Stop that," Tawni protested. She tried to hit me back, but I blocked her shot with my stick and then got her again across the back of the knees.

"Good shot, Sonny!" Ms. Vandermeer shouted from the sidelines. She clapped and gave me a double thumbs up.

"I hate this," Tawni whined, flinching as I walloped her again.

"You're only saying that cause I'm winning," I told her. I pushed a strand of hair out of my face, and Tawni used the break to wave at our teacher.

"Ms. Vandermeer, I can't play. I have cramps."

"Exercise is the best thing for them," Ms. Vandermeer told her. "Now get to it!"

I shoot Tawni a what-did-I-tell-you look, but she wasn't paying attention. Swiveling her head around the gym she caught sight of a girl named Dana.

She was sitting on the bleachers, flipping through an issue of _**Teen People. **_This is the first class I've ever been in with Dana, so I'd never actually spoken to her. I knew who she was though, everyone did.

Dana had a reputation for being a total skank. I noted this, but since I was completely preoccupied with having sex myself, it seemed wrong to judge.

"How come Dana doesn't have to play?" Tawni asked.

narrowed her eyes. "That's Dana's business."

"But it's not fair," Tawni argued. " Why does she get to sit out while the rest of us have to play?"

"Dana has a medical reason that excuses her from participation," Ms. Vandermeer said. She turned to signal that the conversation was over, but Tawni wouldn't be deterred.

"I have a medical excuse too," she called out. "I'm..... delicate."

"Tawni--" Ms. Vandermeer took a warning step toward us, but Dana spoke up from her seat.

"It's fine, Ms.V. Everybody's going to find out sooner or later anyway." Dana turned to Tawni. "I can't play because I'm pregnant."

Everybody froze, trying not to stare.

My mouth dropped open.

Pregnant at seventeen. Jesus. It was like she was the star of her very own Lifetime movie.

And we were complaining about _**second-period **_lunch?

Dana was still staring at Tawni, waiting for a response.

"Um," Tawni shot me a panicked look, but I had no idea how to help her. "C-congratulations?" she choked out.

There was an akward pause while everybody tried not to meet anyone else's eyes. Then Ms. Vandermeer blew her whistle. "All right girls, let's get back to the game."

Dana buried her face in her magazine, and Tawni and I squared off again.

"I can't believe she's going to have a _**baby**_," I said, lightly bonking Tawni on the shoulder with my stick.

"Yeah," she answered. "Kind of makes you rethink your whole dying-to-lose-your-virginity thing, huh?"

She planted her Q-tip in my chest and knocked me to the ground.

I arrived in German class the next period rumpled and reeking. I slumped down in a desk at the very back of the room, already bored. In eighth grade, my father had convinced me to sign up for German, and by the time I discovered that only misfits and oddballs studied German, It was too late to switch languages.

Half the kids in my German class were hard core science geeks who stopped talking to me when I admitted I had never heard of Max Planck. The other half are gloomy goth kids, who never talked much to begin with.

Chad and Tawni were living it up in Senora Perez's Spanish class, learning to make authentic guacamole and playing Puerto Vallarta Monopoly, while I was stuck doing endless verb declensions in the gulag otherwise known as Herr Robinson's classroom.

The other kids in the classroom were doing the standard first day back catch up, but since I knew none of them were interested in art class I'd taken over the summer, I didnt bother to talk to anyone. Instead I concentrated on the top of my desk, where somone had carved, _**Foxy Loves Hound**_.

_Who were these two lovebirds_? I wondered. And did Hound love Foxy back?

I traced the grooves with my pencil and let my mind wander. Surprisingly, it wandered back to Dana.

_How did anyone let themselves get pregnant in this day and age? _Iwondered. Didn't she read Seventeen? Half the articles in there were about birth control.

Maybe she was too embarrassed to buy condoms?

Man, If I ever managed to find a guy to do it with, you could be sure I wasn't going to let the checkout guy at the Duane Reade screw things up. Dude could get on the mike. Call for a price check for all I cared. Better safe then.... well, Dana.

I was so preoccupied with this train of thought that I didnt bother to look up when Herr Robinson cleared his throat.

"Ok, _**Klassen**_," He said, speaking in his annoying mix of German and English. "We have a new student joining us _**heute. **_Let's all _**sagan Wilkommen **_to Zac Efron."

Someone new? I glanced up to gaze upon the sad soul who'd chosen German for his language requirement-- and froze.

There, standing in a bright beam of sunlight, was the most amazing guy I had ever seen.

He had brown hair, and his eyes were bright, even from here. He stood at the front of the classroom, completely at ease. A smile flickered across his face. It was the most open, brilliant smile in the entire universe.

If I had been standing up, my knees would have buckled. As it was, I swooned into the back of my desk.

The rest of the class murmured, "_**Wilkommen, **_Zac," while I took in the view. This guy was _**gorgeous**_. And he took _**German!**_

I flashed Zac a big smile, but he sank down into the empty seat closest to the door.

Damn. If I had any hope of getting to him before the rest of the twelfth-grade hyenas- I mean, girls- I'd have to talk to him. And to do that? I needed to _**sit next to him.**_

Biggest problem? Getting up and changing my seat. It seemed so _obvious_. I needed a good excuse or, barring that, the courage to act without explanation.

To _be_ obvious.

Ms. Vandermeer was always shouting slogans at us to rev us up in gym-- why hadn't I paid more attenton last period?

I racked my brain for some properly motivational material.

"Be all that you can be"?

Didn't really fit the situation.

"Go for it"?

Too blah.

Finally I decided on the Lotto Motto: "You got to be in it to win it."

Yeah. That'd do.

I murmered it to myself as I scooped up my books and sauntered toward the desk next to Zac's.

"Better acoustics on this side of the room," I told him breezily, and slipped into the seat next to his.

Zac turned to face me, and my heart skipped about a million beats. Up close, he was even hotter than I'd realized. His hair was a just above his beautiful green eyes. He had a smattering of freckles across the bridge of his nose, and I had the urge to lick them.

Well, not really, but they were awfully cute.

He met my gaze, and his lips curled into a lazy smile.

"Hey," he said in a soft voice. He reached his hand out to touch my hair.

_Whoa!_ That Lotto motto is _effective!_ I thought. I felt a flutter in my chest.

Then Zac pulled his hand back, grasping a piece of bright yellow foam.

Blood rushed to my face as I realized what it was-- a tiny piece of the giant Q-tip from gym class!

Oh my God. I just left there! I was sweaty and smelly, and now apparently it looked like I'd been rolling around on the floor!

I was about to add my curses to Tawni's at the injustice of middle-of-the-day gym. Then I realized that Zac was still looking at me. And _**smiling**_.

I needed to say something__anything__ but my mind was a complete blank.

_Say hi! Just say hi,_ my brain commanded, but my lips wouldnt form the word.

Instead I opened my mouth and closed it a few times, while my face grew redder and redder.

They say you only get one chance to make a first impression. Well, with each second that passed, my first impression was looking more and more like "giant tuna in a D cup."

Zac's expression grew concerned. Like he suddenly realized he'd taken a seat next to the school's only mainstreamed developmentally disabled girl, and now he was going to have to be nice to her and keep her from eating the paste.

The situation was critical__I could see my future as the world's oldest living virgin stretching out ahead of me__so I gave myself a pinch on the leg to jolt myself from my trance.

"HI!!!" I ended up shouting, so loudly that the entire class jumped.

God, what was _wrong_ with me?

"I mean, _hi_," I said in a normal volume. "Sorry__I've been listening to my iPod all day. Messes with your hearing."

Okay, that didn't sound especially crazy. Of course, it didn't sound especially _bright_.......

But at least Zac stopped looking frightened. After a second he smiled back at me.

"_Ich heiss Zac. Wie heisen Sie?_"

"_Ich heiss Sonny. Wie geht's?_" I answered, pretty much exhausting my entire German vocabulary. "Your new, right?" I added.

"Yeah," Zac said. "We just moved here from Texas a couple of weeks ago." He leaned back in his chair and stretched.

His T-shirt rode up a little way on his stomach, revealing__gulp!__six pack abs.

I forced my eyes back up to his face before I started drooling.

"It must suck having to switch schools senior year," I said, but Zac shrugged.

"I don't know." He looked me up and down. "Some of it's not so bad."

I felt my face flush warm. Was he talking about _me_? I had to keep my wits about me__play it cool.

"Yeah?" I drawled, narrowing my eyes to seductive slits.

"Yeah. You know, I like living this close to New York City," he said, "and it'll be cool to be here this summer, cause I can surf."

_Down,_ girl, I scolded to myself. _He wasn't talking about you. Which means he doesn't want you. Yet._

"There's cool stuff to do around here all year long," I told him. "And my friends and I go into the city practically every weekend if you ever, uh, need suggestions about where to go."

Zac's smile faded, and I mentally kicked myself. Why didn't I just invite him to come with us?

Hold on__maybe it wasn't too late.

I opened my mouth, but before I could get out another word, Herr Robinson rapped on his desk to get the class's attention.

As our teacher droned on about the first week's vocabulary lists, I watched Zac out of the corner of my eye.

_If I invite him to come into the city with Tawni, Chad, and me, it might sound friend-like, _I thought. _And I have plenty of friends already._

Maybe I should figure out somewhere else to take him.

Somewhere more...date-y.

And just like that, it hit me. Of course! The back-to-school bonfire!

Every year Sterling had a big party on the beach to get everyone revved up for the new school year. It was a little to rah-rah for my tastes__Chad, Tawni, and I planned to go solely in an ironic capacity....

But the waves, the fire, the moonlight. . . it could be romantic.

To say nothing of the fact that I'd get to see Zac in a bathing suit.

The bonfire was this Friday night, so I needed to act fast.

Zac was paying attention to Herr Robinson, who was wandering up and down the aisles of the classroom, pronouncing each vocabulary word for us.

_"Der Bahnhof," _he droned.

"_Der Bahnhof_," Zac repeated.

"_Die Fahrkarte_."

"_Die Fahrkarte_."

I didn't repeat the words with the rest of the class. Instead I ripped a piece of paper out of my notebook.

I chewed on the end of my pencil and tried to come up with a clever way to invite Zac to the bonfire. I wanted to find just the right words----

_Things will really heat up this Friday. . . . _

_You're hot, and so is the bonfire. . . ._

_Sparks are flying. . . ._

Ugh. Why not just _beg_ him to turn me down?

A half an hour later the bell was about to ring, so finally I just scrawled,

_You. Me. Bonfire. Friday. Yes?_

I read it over. Not bad. Straightforward. Sexy.

All right-- Let's do this.

I folded the note into a tiny little cubeand flicked it onto Zac's desk. He scooped it into his palm and opened it. He read the note, then scrawled something at the bottom. But before he could pass it back to me, Herr Robinson intercepted it, plucking the note off Zac's desk and dropping it into the wastebasket without missing a beat.

"_Das Flugzeug,_" Herr Robinson droned

Zac shot me a guilty glance out of the corner of his eye.

"_Das Flugzeug,"_ I mumbled, silently willing him to nod or shake his head or do _anything_ to let me know his answer.

The bell rang a minute later. Zac grabbed his books and dashed off after Herr Robinson, who was clutching and empty coffee mugand booking it toward the teachers' lounge.

I hung my head low.

_I'm repellant,_ I thought. _I'm human Deet. _Why else would Zac run away?

I lingered at my desk until the last German student left, then surrendered the last shreds of my dignity as I scrabbled through the trash can, looking for the note.

I finally spotted it lying next to someone's spit-out bubble gum. I grimaced and gingerly picked it up, smoothing it out on the desk.

I held my breath and looked at what he'd written.

YES

?

!!!

_Oh my God. This is it, _I told myself as carefully tucked the note into a pocket of my backpack. Fresh start! New beginning! Second chance to make a first impression!

I slung my backpack over my shoulder and headed down the hall toward English class.

_I won't ruin this relationship,_ I told myself. _No way._

I was going to date Zac, and hook up with him, and maybe even have sex with him at some point down the line-- and I was going to do it all without freaking out or getting scared or blowing it in some other humiliating way.

In a word, the bonfire was going to be. . . awsome.

I got to English class and slipped into the seat Chad had saved for me.

I could feel it, a buzzing that started in my stomach and tingled its way down my spine.

This time, I vowed, it was all going to be perfect.

"Hey, Sonny," Chad said, "you've got something stuck in your hair."

He reached out and grabbed a bright red piece of foam from my curls.

I closed my eyes for a moment. Gathered myself.

Yes. It was all going to be perfect, I thought.

Starting right. . . _**now**__._

**A/N: Wow that was some heck of a chapter. I had to cut in half so it could all fit. But oh well it was worth it. Hope you guys liked the chapter.!**


	4. Chapter 4

POP!

**Chapter 4**

**F**riday morning I woke up at the crack of dawn. I was so excited about my evening with Zac that I had barely slept. I jumped in the shower-- even though I'd be showering again after gym--then threw on my clothes and skipped down the stairs.

Early as it was, I found Tawni seated at the kitchen table. My dad was cooking her breakfast.

My father is always happy to have Tawni around. She's another mouth to feed, and cooking is his favorite way to relax. At least, when he isn't painting.

"How many strips of bacon would you girls like?" he asked, kissing me on the cheek as he simultaneously stirred the eggs and pulled a block of Parmesan out of the fridge.

"Three, please," I answered, grabbing a glass from the cupboard and pouring myself some orange juice. I gulped down half of it in one swallow, then carried it over to the table.

"And for you, Tawni-bean?" Dad asked.

"None, thank you," Tawni answered. "I'll just have some yogurt or something."

My dad and I both froze. Tawni had been known to put away eight or nine slices of bacon at a sitting. Her refusal of pork products was a sure sign that something was not right in the universe.

"Excuse me?" my dad asked, the refrigerator door hanging open. "Are you feeling ok?"

He walked over to her and placed his palm on her forehead, concerned.

"I'm fine. I've just decided to become a vegetarian," Tawni said, spreading jam on a piece of toast.

I snorted, and some OJ came up through my nose. It stung like crazy, and I coughed into a napkin as tears streamed down my cheeks.

My dad checked to make sure I wasn't dying, then turned to Tawni, amused. "So, Miss Tawni, what brought about this sudden spate of health and social conscienceness?"

"Meat is murder, Mr. Monroe," Tawni said matter-of -factly. "From now on I'm not eating anything with a face."

"Nothing with a face," Dad said. "Well, I can certainly respect that. One yogurt coming up."

He turned his back to us and spent a moment at the counter, humming as he prepared our breakfast. After a minute he came back to the table and put a plate down in front of each of us.

Mine had the standard eggs-bacon-muffin that I ate more days than not.

Tawni's plate, however, was something else.

In the middle of a perfectly round puddle of vanilla yogurt, my dad had used raisins, almonds, and slices of fresh fruit to construct a mosaic face, which smiled up at us.

It was a masterpiece, really too beautiful to eat, and Tawni stared at it, her mouth hanging open.

Dad smiled at her, a challenge. "|What are you going to do about that, Tawni-bean?"

She shrugged and reached for my bacon. "Well, If I'm eating faces anyway," she said, and showed a piece in her mouth.

"Hey!" I protested.

But my dad laughed and hugged her. The way Tawni's face lit up made me not even begrudge her my breakfast.

Dad turned back to the stove to put a couple more slices of bacon on the griddle, and Tawni leaned back in her chair, helping herself to the last slice on my plate.

"So, do you know what your going to wear to the bonfire tonight?" she asked.

When I told Tawni and Chad about Zac, they seemed a little doubtful that I could break out of my old pattern.

But since I was determined that this time things would be different, they promised to do whatever they could to help.

The first step, Tawni instructed, was to wear something for our date that would make me look hot.

"I was thinking my vintage terry-cloth halter dress. You know, the one staright out of the seventies," I said. "Cute, right?"

"You'll freeze." Tawni shook her head. " It's suppose to get down to sixty tonight."

"Then I don't have a single thing to wear," I complained.

"I'd lend you something of mine," Tawni offered, "but I think your girls would stretch it out of shape." She pointed first at her boobs, then at mine.

"Tawni!" I laughed.

"Maybe Dallas has something you can borrow."

I shot her a glance, warning her to shut up, but she didn't notice.

"Her Roxy outfit is cute and wouldn't be out of place at the bonfire--"

"I'll fimd something in my closet, I'm sure,' I said quickly.

My dad raised an eyebrow. " You don't have to be afraid to say your sister's name, you know."

Sure, I didn't have to be afraid. As long as I didn't mind a lot of shouting and slammed doors.

"Matter of fact, she should join us for breakfast," Dad said. " Enough sulking in her room. We'll all eat together. _**Like a family**_."

He marched determined out of the room.

I winced. Screaming and slamming doors in T-minus 10, 9, 8. . . .

Tawni shot me a guilty look. "Sorry. How she doing anyway?"

I rolled my eyes. " My parents want to take her up to Wisconsin in a couple of weeks to check out colleges, but for now she says she's not going."

"Poor Dallas," Tawni sympathized.

"Yeah, it's all a little. . . tense around here."

"Then let's think about other things," she said through a mouthful of bacon. "Like you and Zac _doing it_!"

"Shhh!" I looked over my shoulder to make sure my dad wasn't on his way back. "It's not like we're going to do it right away. I'm going to wait until I'm sure that he really loves and respects me--"

"I don't know," she said with a wicked grin. "Maybe you should hurry up and get it over with before you turn into a basket case and break up with him."

"Right." I smirked at her. "Forget love and respect--I'm jumping him tonight!"

Tawni and I both cracked up.

"Oh, Zac," she simpered in a high-pitched voice that was suppose to be mine, "I want you so bad. Won't you turn this girl into a woman?"

"Shut up!" I laughed.

"But I have _needs,_ Zac. Needs that only you can satisfy."

"Tawni!"

She grabbed me by the arms and fluttered her eyelashes dramatically. "Take me, Zac. I'm a--a ripe peach, waiting to be. . . _plucked_. . ."

The room echoed with her cackles.

"Stop," I said giving her a shove. "My dad's going to hear you!"

"What am I going to hear?" my dad asked, walking back into the kitchen.

I made a face at Tawni. _**Told you so!**_

Tawni cleared her throat. "I'm just saying that it's a shame you raised such a piggy little daughter who ate all the bacon and left none for the rest of us."

"I've had one piece!' I said. " Your the one who scarfed it all down."

"Yet I want more," she said.

Dad reached into the refrigerator and pulled out the slab of bacon. "Anything for our vegetarian friends."

Tawni gave me a wink, then reached for my glass of orange juice.

_Obviously_ I wasn't going to sleep with Zac on our very first date, but since I planned to somewhere down the line, tonight was about setting the sex wheels in motion.

I was giong to mack on Zac til my lips were sore. And no matter what, I was not going to get scared and run away.

I was unleashing the new, confident, sexy me.

And if things happened to get a little more physical than I was used to? Well, _**good.**_


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**W**e ain't bad, and we ain't cocky! Gonna ride on you like a Kawasaki!"

The Sterling cheer squad pranced up and down the sand in front of the bonfire, twisting their hands like they were revving motorcycles.

"Vroom, vroom! Go, go, go! We're gonna beat you, lay you low."

Zac vroomed his hands too, cheering along with the other students who aren't embarrased about showing school spirit: the Pradas, their boyfriends, athletes, student council members, and, not astoundingly, Chad and Tawni, who believed you couldn't truly mock something unless you had first experienced it on a visceral level.

I stood next to Zac, clapping along halfheartedly.

Normally I wouldn't have been caught dead anywhere near the cheer squad, even for the sake of being ironic. But the promise of hooking up with Zac was worth looking like the sort of person in whose hands pom-poms would not be out of place.

Hooking up, however, appeared to be the last thing on Zac's mind. The minute we got to the beach, he threw himself into the occasion with the peppiness usually reserved for kids running for class president. He helped gather driftwood for the fire and tossed a Frisbee around with a couple of freshmen. He even took his turn at the grill, flipping burgers. He shook hands with the principle, it a double in the softball game, and in general was so friendly and gung ho I half expected the football team to hoist him on their shoulders and parade him down the beach.

Normally? _Gag._

But then Zac glanced over at me, and the sparks from the bonfire brought out the golden flecks in his eyes.

Opposite of _gag._

The cheer ended. Zac put his arm around my shoulders, giving me a little squeeze.

"Is your pep not being rallied?" he asked. "Cause if you got spirit, I don't hear it."

"We aren't even playing another team!" I complained. "Who or what are we suppose to be getting riled up about?"

Zac shrugged. "Guess you have your choice. I, personally, am gonna use my screech owl power against the tyranny of second period lunch!"

I laughed, and his smile grew wider. "Hey, I saw a couple of watermelons on the picnic table. I told Mrs. Kent I'd carve them up for her. Wanna help?"

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"Uh, I think I'm going to go talk to Tawni for a minute," I said.

"Okay. Be right back." Zac gave my shoulder one last squeeze before walking away.

I wandered over to my friends.

"Having fun?" Chad asked as I came up.

I shrugged. " At least I don't have to worry about things getting to physical. At this rate I'll have graduated college before I get second to be alone with him."

"Where is he?" Tawni asked, looking around.

I scowled. "He's off earning his merit badge in snack preparation."

Tawni smiled sympathetically. "You must really be crazy about him if you still want to be alone with him after that display."

I gave them a pleading look. "It's not _that_ bad, is it? I mean, you guys thought he was cool and all, right?"

"Definitely," Tawni said, but I could see her struggling not to smirk.

"He's, ummm, peppy," Chad said. "You gotta give him that."

My shoulders slumped. "You guys, I really like him. Even with all his ridiculous school spirit. He's not like the other kids. He seems. . . genuine, you know? I want it all to work out."

"It will," Chad said. "He's just acting all involved because he's new and wants to meet people. Deep down. I bet he's as cynical and apathetic as the rest of us."

I folded my hands and looked up to heaven. "We can only hope."

Tawni glanced over my shoulder, troubled. "Oh God, look who he's talking to now."

I turned, and my heart sank. Zac was standing next to Van Dyke Fielding, laughing at something he'd said.

Van Dyke was the biggest jerk in school- The star of the lacross team and Stella Mallone's boyfriend.

He was a juiced up meat-head who never missed an opportunity to beat someone up, or key their car, or find some other way to make them miserable.

Chad _especially_ hated him. In the fifth grade Van Dyke smashed the model of Pompeii Chad had spent weeks making for social studies. Chad wanted to beat him up but was to weak and _they_ ended up beating him up instead. Van Dyke had told everyone in class that Chad was a big fat wimp.

Van Dyke never missed an opportunity to rag on Chad after that. Which made Chad's main objective at Sterling finding new ways to avoid Van Dyke.

Translation: If Zac made friends with Van Dyke Fielding, there was no way I could ever date him. And since there were no other viable dating options at Sterling, I might as well get fitted for a chasity belt.

"Oh no," I breathed. "What should I do? Should I go over there?"

But Zac glanced over and caught me looking at him. He said something to Van Dyke, then headed my way.

"There you are," he said, including Chad and Tawni in his smile.

"What were you- I mean, how do you know Van Dyke Fielding?" I asked him, struggling to keep my voice casual.

"I just met him over by the watermelons," Zac said.

Chad, Tawni, and I let out big sighs of relief.

"Nice guy," Zac continued cautiously. "He told me about this spot down the beach where you cant see any of the light from town. The stars are suppose to be amazing."

"Water Rocks," I said, trying to ignore the poke Tawni gave me in the small of my back. **(A/N: Totally had to make up the name here)**

Water Rocks was the biggest make-out spot in all of Hollywood. I'd never been there on a date, but when Chad got his driver's license, the three of us drove out there once. You really could see the stars. . . .

"You, uh, maybe want to check it out?" Zac asked.

Tawni poked me again.

"S-sure," I said, shooting a glance at my friends.

Zac wrapped his large, warm hand around mine, and we started down the beach, away from the noisy throng of students clustered around the bonfire.

"Have fun," Tawni called after us.

"And Sonny," Chad chimed in, "be good!"

Zac and I walked until the shoreline curved and we were out of sight of the fire. We could see dark shapes in the sand- other kids looking for privacy- and heard the occasional giggle or sigh that let me know I wasn't the only one with dirty deeds on the brain.

Finally we passed even those people and were completely, blissfully alone. Water Rocks was a couple hundred yards farther down the beach. It was a cluster of giant, smooth boulders half buried in the sand above the crashing surf. Zac led me over to one of the rocks. He scrambled to the top of it, then turned and held out a hand to help me up.

I hesitated.

_Admit the problem and the problem will go away._ I reminded myself. _Okay, Problem: I tend to get freaky when things get physical, but I don't have to do anything I don't want. If we're moving too fast, I can just slow down- or stop- without acting like a loon._

"You coming?" Zac said in a low, sweet voice. I nodded and took his hand.

We lay back on the rock, looking up at the dazzling display of stars in the sky.

Suddenly I found it hard to breathe.

I could picture my entire glorious senior year with Zac as my boyfriend. Holding hands as we walked to class, leaving notes in each other's lockers. He'd tell me he loved me, and I'd say it back. It would be the sort of romance I'd always dreamed about but never actually experienced.

We'd be Romeo and Juliet. . . . without all the inconvinient suicide. And it was starting right here, right now.

Zac turned his gaze from the sky to my face. He gave me a small, secret smile.

"Gorgeous," he said softly.

"Yeah, you really can see the stars out here," I said, amazed at my Oscar-worthy portrayal of calmness.

"I wasn't talking about the stars," he murmered.

My breath caught in my throat. Zac bought his lips to mine, and it was hands down the best kiss of my life. A kiss that would fuel a decade's worth of fantasies.

Zac closed his eyes and totally gave in to the moment.

I wrapped my arms around his neck as he continued to kiss me- softly, then gradually, more urgently. We sank back onto the rock, so that he was half lying on top of me. He moved his hands through my hair, over my back, lightly stroking the bare skin of my shoulders.

His fingers slipped beneath the neckline of my dress, trailing along my collarbone.

My heartbeat sped up, as much from excitement as from sheer nervousness.

I quickly took stock and decided, no I cant do this.

Before I was able to move back I shifted my body back the other way, but I lost my balance and started to slip.

"Whoa!" I shouted. The next thing I knew, I was falling!

I flailed my arms, trying to find a handhold, grabbing wildly for something to hold on to. My fingers brushed against fabric, and I clutched at it, thinking that If I held on to Zac's shirt, I could stop myself from falling.

One hand grabbed onto the pocket of Zac's polo, but the other. . . the other wasn't holding his shirt at all.

It was clutching his jeans.

More specifically, the _front_ of his jeans.

More specifically, the part of his body that was _inside_ the front of his jeans!

Holy crap! I snatched my hand away and started tumbling off the rock again.

Zac grabbed me by the shoulders and kept me from hitting the sand.

The second I was steady, I scrambled away from him.

God! I was so embarrassed I thought I would spontaneously combust- looked forward to it, actually.

"Okay, that's going to fast," Zac joked, but I didnt see anything funny about it.

I choked out a "Sorry!," then turned and ran away up the beach.

I could hear Zac calling after me, but I didnt stop. I ran as fast as I could and never once looked back.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**T**he House was mercifully empty when I got home. My parents were at a benefit, and Dallas was maintaining her self-inposed exile in her room.

I threw my purse down as I walked in the door and kicked off my shoes.

I couldnt believe the way I had humiliated myself. I really_ was _frigid. And a loser.

I sighed. This was totally pointless. Maybe I could find another way to take my mind off my troubles.

I decided to go take a hot bath and try to forget everything that happened today with Zac.

But it was completely useless.

**A/N: Yes, this was the shortest chapter. But the story is going to get better! so look out for the good parts between Sonny and Chad. 3.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**A**round ten and unable to sleep, I finally padded down the hall of Dalla's room. My sister was no stranger to tragedy- or sex. She and her boyfriend, Thad, had had plenty of both in the last three years, so maybe she'd have some advice. I knocked on her door and waited.

Dallas opened the door a crack and peered out, scowling.

When she saw that it was me and not my parents standing in the hall, her face relaxed.

"Come," she said. She retreated into her room and flopped down on her bed, where she'd apparently been hard at work braiding her hair into little Bjork-style knots.

I followed her in, peering cautiously around.

Dallas used to have a bunch of CSU posters up on her walls, but when they rejected her, she ripped them all down.

In the last few weeks, it appeared, she'd redecorated.

The room was now wallpapered with pictures of her friends. She'd replaced her desk chair with one of those weird kneely chairs, and she'd cleared away her zillions of stuffed animals and knickknacks, replacing them with piles and piles of books.

I picked a few of them up and read the titles. _Aristophanes' Collected Plays. Practical Spoken Russian. Gray's Anatomy. Jung Made Simple._

Weird.

"What's up with the library?" I asked.

"I'm becoming an autodidact," she said. "Just because CSU thinks I'm dumb doesn't mean I have to prove them right."

I didn't bother arguing with her. No matter how hard we tried to convince Dallas that CSU wasn't personally out to ruin her life, she refused to listen. Not even Zac, with his insane peppiness, would be able to lift my sister's spirits on _that_ topic.

Oh God. . . _Zac._

I sank down onto the foot of Dallas' bed with a moan.

She frowned. "What's wrong? And why are you home so early? I thought the bonfire didn't end til eleven."

"I can't ever go back there," I said. For the first time in the entire evening, a tear escaped from my eye. "I made such a fool of myself."

Dallas threw her arms around me. "Oh, honey. What happened? Is there someone I need to beat up?"

I gave a small smile. Even though she was miserable for her own reasons, I'd known that Dallas would be there for me.

"There's this new boy at school. Zac," I started. "He's so cute-"

Dallas nodded, reaching for the bowl of Pringles on her nightstand.

"Tonight we were kissing. And I accidentally grabbed his"- I paused- "_you know."_

Dallas' eyebrows shot straight up.

"It was completely mortifying," I finished.

Dallas regarded me silently. "You gabbed his penis. . . _accidentally_?"

I nodded.

"But how did you-"

"Don't make me relive it," I interrupted. "The point is, now he's not going to want to go out with me, and I'll be alone _forever_."

Dallas offered me the bowl of chips. I shook my head.

"Sonny. You'll find someone," she tried to reassure me.

"No, I won't," I told her. "There's something wrong with me. Anytime I meet someone I like, I start freaking out about sex, and then I jinx it."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Dallas locked eyes with me. "Sonny, is someone pressuring you? If you're not ready to have sex, just tell the guy no. If he gets pissed off, he's a complete cretin and you wouldn't want to date him anyways."

"That's not it," I wailed. "I _am_ ready. Its just- the minute things start getting physical, I start acting like an ass! I spaz out. I sweat. I can't breathe."

I paused for a moment, gathering myself.

"I feel like maybe Im thinking about it too much, and I don't know how to stop. I think that If I could get it over with. . . . If I could just do it _**one time**_, I wouldn't be weird about it anymore."

Dallas looked at me, considering. " You wanna have sex so you don't have to worry about having sex. Right?"

I let out a sigh of relief. I'm so glad she's my sister. "Right."

Dallas popped a chip in her mouth. "What you need," she said, "is a friend-with-benefits."

I opened my mouth, but she held up her hand. "I'm serious. You need to find somebody you get along with, who your not interested in romantically, that you can just have sex with."

I frowned. "I don't know anybody like that."

Dallas was about to answer when we heard the squeak of the back gate.

My parents got mad if any of our friends rang the doorbell after ten o' clock. So Dallas' and my friends started coming in the back way at night.

Dallas looked out the window. "Be right down!" she called.

I figured it was Thad, but when she turned back to me, she had a funny look on her face. "Okay, I don't want to come across all Tom-and-Connie. . . "

I grinned. It drove my parents crazy that ever since Dallas graduated, She had been calling them by their first names.

". . . but you guys are going to use a condom, right?"

"Who?" I asked, confused.

"You and Chad."

"_What_?" I yelped.

"Chad," She repeated. "He's your perfect friend-with-benefits. And he's downstairs right now."

I couldn't help it. I laughed. The whole idea was. . . ridiculous.

Dallas frowned. "Sonny. Safe sex is no joke."

"Wait a minute," I said, "Your talking about _**Chad**_ here."

"I know and if you _really_ think you're ready to have sex, and you _really_ just want to get it over with, then Chad is the perfect choice." She started ticking the reasons off on her fingers. "You really like him as a person. You know he'll be nice to you and treat you well. He's presumably disease free. He's pretty cute. He's available, and most of all, he's _**here**_."

"Yeah, but"- I tried to find the words to explain how insane her idea was- "But it's _**Chad."**_

Dallas grinned and held her bedroom door open. "I know," she said. "Now go get him!"

I walked downstairs and opened the kitchen door to let Chad in.

"Sonny, are you ok?" he asked before he even crossed the threhold. "Zac came back to the bonfire without you. I wanted to make sure you were all right."

I nodded. "I'm fine. I just- hate pep rallies."

"Well, of course you do," Chad said. 'You have a brain."

I sent him a psychic thank-you for not asking what happened with Zac. Instead he reached into his backpack and pulled out a DVD case.

"You left before I could give you the drama show I told you about last week," he paused. "Maybe you wanna. . . "

He shook the case, grinned at me hopefully.

I rolled my eyes. "You wanna watch it now?" I asked, humoring him.

"If you insist," Chad said. He headed toward the living room. I followed him slowly, thinking about what Dallas had said. It was weird- we'd been friends for so long that I never really _saw_ Chad that way.

I was surprised at how nice his eyes were- a really oceany blue. And his lips were definitely sexy- full and pouty, like in a painting of Cupid. He was also two inches taller than me, plus as I mentioned, I really was a fan of blond hair on guys.. .

"What?" Chad said, looking up from the DVD player and seeing me staring at him.

"Nothing," I said. "Absolutely, positively nothing."

We sprawled out in the couch to watch the movie, me leaning against him, snuggled up against each other the same we've done practically every other night of our lives.

Only this time, it felt different.

I never noticed before how heavy and comforting his arm was around my shoulders. It made me feel. . . safe. His skin was warm, and I could feel the heat from his body through his T-shirt.

Being this close to him made me take in his delicious scent of cologne. Mmm.

For the first time since I'd known him, Chad seemed like a _**boy**_ to me- a boy with potential, a boy I would maybe consider going all the way with.

It completely freaked me out.

I shifted my weight, and Chad let go of me.

"Want something to drink?" I asked, jumping up.

"Im good," he answered. He paused the show so I wouldn't miss any of it, even though I wasn't really paying attention to begin with.

I went into the kitchen and leaned against the refrigerator.

Maybe Dallas was right. Maybe she had given me a simple solution to an otherwise overwhelming problem. Maybe Chad _**could**_ be my first,

Now all I had to do was convince him that I should be _**his**_.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

I didn't think I'd be able to fall asleep that night. Everytime I'd start to drift off, I'd imagine me and Chad together and jolt awake again.

You could say it was a nightmare, only the more I thought about it, the less scary it seemed.

And the less scary it seemed, the more it started to make sense.

If only I could figure out how to broach the subject with him.

You can't just walk up to a guy and say, "Hey, wanna do it?" Even if he _**is **_your best friend.

I tossed and turned until the sky outside my windows started to brighten.

Then, a blink later, the sun was high in the clouds. The clock on my nightstand said eleven, and I could hear Tawni's laughter coming from the kitchen.

Aha! **Tawni **would know what to do.

I jumped out of bed and ran downstairs, where I found her at the kitchen table, eating pancakes and amusing my father with her imitation of the cheerleaders at the bonfire last night.

"Come with me now," I commanded, grabbing her sleeve and giving it a yank.

Tawni paused, a forkful of pancake frozen halfway to her mouth, dripping syrup on the front of her shirt. She looked at me and her eyes widened, aware that I had Something Big to tell her.

She dropped her fork with a clatter and scraped her chair back from the table.

"So I guess you'll finish your story later?" my dad called after us.

"You bet, Mr. M.," she shouted.

We zipped back upstairs, tumbled into my room, and slammed the door shut behind us.

I took a deep breath, ready to tell her my new plan, but she jumped in before I could start.

"Oh my God, did you do it?"

I paused, thrown. "Do what?"

Tawni shook her head impatiently. "Did you have sex?"

"With Chad?" I asked, confused.

Tawni looked at me like I was out of my mind. "What are you talking about? With Zac!"

Oh.

I'd been so fixated on Dallas' idea that I'd forgotten. Tawni hadn't heard about the bonfire.

"Uh, that's hit a snag," I told her.

Tawni threw her hands up exasperated. "Sonny, tell me what happened!"

I knew she wouldn't let me get my news about Chad out until I filled her in on the whole crotch-grabbing incident. So I relieved every painful detail, then shushed her follow-up questions.

"So, last night Dallas had an idea," I said. "I'm freaked out about sex right?"

"Duh," she responded.

"And I'm not going to stop being freaked out until I do it, right?

"Right. But you can't find anybody to do it with because you're so freaked out about the thought of doing it in the first place." Tawni shook her head sadly. "The classic chicken-and-egg scenerio."

"But there is _**one**_ person who doesn't scare me. And I think. . . I think I should do it with _**him**_."

"Really?" Tawni stared at me blankly. "Who?"

I took another deep breath, then blurted it out.

"Chad."

Tawni's mouth fell open. She stared at me, frozen, for so long I thought that maybe she'd had a stroke.

But then she let out a shriek and threw her arms around me. "Oh my God. Oh my _**God**_! That's _**perfect!"**_

I grinned, relieved. "It's a good idea, right?" 'Cause when Dallas said it, it seemed like maybe that could solve all my problems."

"Are you kidding? I can't believe I never thought of it myself. Oh my God, _**You're going to do it with Chad**_!" She let out another shriek and hugged me, laughing.

"Hold on," I told her. "I haven't asked him yet, so I don't know if he'll be into th idea. . ."

"Are you kidding?" Tawni said. He'll be into it. Definately."

I sat down on my bed and grinned, the idea starting to become real in my mind. "How do you think I should ask him?"

"You could hire a filmmaker to shoot a video," She suggested.

"Okay," I said. "any ideas that don't involve me traveling to a war zone?"

Tawni thought for a moment. "Lots of guys respond to flattery. Tell him, like, what a stud he is and how your loins are burning for him and stuff."

I cracked up. "Yeah, right. 'Chad, you hot stallion. I just gotta have some of your lovin'!"

Tawni shrugged. "Hey, with a line like that, how could he resist?"

The three of us planned to hang out at the mall the next day so Tawni could take advantage of the no-limit credit card her dad got her after his last huge blowout with her mom.

In the light of the information I'd shared, however, Tawni came up with a new plan. I'd go over to Chad's house alone and tell him Tawni couldn't make it. Then, when he asked me what I wanted to do instead, it would be a ready-made segue into my answer: the nasty.

It all sounded good on paper, but when I got to Chad's, I started to chicken out.

Partly it was his fault. When I told him Tawni wasn't coming, instead of asking what I wanted to do, he said, "Cool. How about helping me put together my new bookshelves?" **(A/N: Yes, Chad reads lol)**

So instead of doing the humpity-pumpity, I was stuck wielding an Allen wrench, deciphering page after page of impossible Swedish instructions.

Chad didn't seem to notice how funny I was acting. Or maybe he thought I was still upset about what happened with Zac on Friday. Either way, he hammered nails and adjusted shelves, while I floundered around for an opening to bring up my plan.

By the time the shelves were finished and Chad stacked his books on them, I couldn't take it any longer,

Chad stood up to brush the sawdust off his clothes. "Want to go to the mall now?" he asked.

No I didn't.

I decided the best way to ask him was to just go ahead and put it out there. No fear, no pussyfooting around, no distractions. Just: Do you want to sleep with me?

Only_

Maybe I should try flattery first.

"That is a volcanic ensemble your wearing," I said, shamelessly borrowing Duckie's pickup line from _Pretty in Pink._

Chad cocked an eyebrow at me, glancing down at his dormant jeans and T-shirt. "Oh?"

" I just mean, you look- hot," I added, somewhat lamely.

"Hot?" Chad echoed.

I gave him my sexiest smile. "White-hot."

Ok, I had to stop quoting that movie.

"I mean, sexy. Manly. Uh- _**virile**_."

Chad looked at me bewildered.

I shrugged. "What? Can a girl enjoy a little eye candy?"

Chad scrunched up his face. "No." He folded his arms across his chest. "Okay, so you're complementing me on my clothes and my- uh- virility. You're reffering to me as 'eye candy'. You clearly want something."

I gulped. "Uhhh. . . "

"You want. . . help cleaning out your closet," he guessed.

"Uh, no," I answered.

"Your going shopping and you need me to. . . carry all your bags?" he tried again.

I shook my head, mute.

"Um. . . you want to borrow my DVD of _La dolce vita_?"

Now he was really reaching.

Chad blew out a breath, exasperated. "Fine. I give up. What _do _you want?"

_Tell him. Tell him! _my mind urged.

"I want. . ." I hesistated. "I want you to sleep with me!"

Chad froze. He stared at me for a while, speechless. Then he threw his head back and roared with laughter.

I watched him from the bed, trying to figure out how to arrange my features so I'd look sexy.

Chad laughed for about five minutes straight, then finally started to settle down.

"Yeah, right." He shook his head and wiped a tear of meriment from his eyes. "You got me. I'll admit it. For a second I thought you were serious."

"I _am_ serious," I said.

This set Chad off again. I let out a frustrated breath, waiting for him to calm himself.

"I'm serious," I repeated. "I think we should have sex. Together. You and me. Now."

This time Chad didn't laugh. "_Now_?"

"Well, fine. Maybe not this minute, but yeah. Why not?"

"Um, because it's crazy," he said.

"What's so crazy about it?"

Chad shook his head, but I kept going, the words tumbling over each other in my haste to get them out. "Think about it, Chad. It makes sense. We're both virgins. The last virgins left at school. We're friends. We like each other, so it wouldn't be weird. Our friendship would come first, and we could promise each other that nothing would change between us. Think about it. The way things are going now, neither of us has any better prospects, so-"

"Oh, that's romantic," he cut in.

"That's the point," I told him. "It's _not_ romantic, which means all the pressure's off."

I paused. "Don't you wanna know what it's like?"

"Of course," He said, "but come on. I thought you were all in love with Mr. One Man Pep Squad."

"Please. Zac and I don't stand a chance with the way things are now."

Chad gave me a dubious look. "You really picture the two of us being a couple?"

"No. That's what I'm trying to tell you. We aren't going to start dating each other, we're just going to sleep with each other, then go back to being friends. Friends _who aren't virgins_."

Chad stared at me. I could see that he was considering it.

I held my breath, waiting to see what he'd say.

"Do you really think you could do that? Just go back to being friends?"

"Of course," I said.

"But what happens when we're about to do it and you freak out and run away? How'll we be friends after that?"

"That won't happen," I said triumphant, "because if I _know _I'm about to do it _with_ you, I won't go all crazy."

Chad shook his head. "I don't know."

I let out a sigh. Nothing like having to beg a boy to have sex with you to kill the mood.

"Chad. It's not a big deal. It's just sex. People do it everyday. And it's time we caught up with the rest of the world."

Chad was quiet for a second, absorbing this, then he smiled at me and shrugged. "What the hell? Let's do it."

I clapped and let out a squeal. "Really?"

Chad frowned. "No. Not really. Try absolutely _**not**_!"

**A/N: So sorry its been so long since I posted up. Once again my internet is still crashed and I hate on having to make you awesome guys wait so long. And thank you guys so much for all the reviews. I hoped you enjoyed this chapter and don't kill me because Chad said no. :D**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"He said what?" Tawni shrieked, diggin her fingernails into my arm.

"He said he thought it sounded like a bad idea," I told her. "and excuse me but-_**Ouch!"**_

Tawni let go of my arm.

"I could kill Chad," she seethed. "How could he say no? You know what, I'm going to go talk to him. I bet I can get him to change his mind."

She started into the school, but I grabbed the back of her shirt to stop her. "Don't. He's right. It was a stupid idea, and I'd rather forget the whole embarrasing thing."

After Chad had turned me down, I beat a hasty retreat back to my house and finished the worst weekend of my life under the covers with a plate of brownies and the TV remote.

I'd have been very happy to pull a Dallas and never come out of my room again, but my parents said one hermit daughter was enough and made me come to school.

Chad had called me last night to make sure I wasn't mad or embarrased, so at least I wasn't afraid of seeing him.

It wasn't until I was changing back into my jeans and T-shirt after gym, however, that I remembered I had to see someone else.

Zac.

I had been so preoccupied with my Chad plan that I didn't even think about what I was going to in German class. The thought of facing Zac and, God forbid, discussing what had happened at the bonfire, was unbearable.

If I were a girl who cut classes, I would have spent the hour smoking or shoplifting or whatever those class-cutting types enjoy.

Sadly, that was not my thing. My only option, I decided, was to ignore Zac. I wouldn't sit by him, and, with any luck, wouldn't have to deal with him at all.

At least, not until after I'd had a chance to think up some clever excuse for having taken matters- uh - _in hand_. When I arrived in class, I avoided Zac's gaze. I strode past him to the back of the room, where the science geeks sat.

I plonked my books on a desk near them and opened my notebook.

"What are _you_ doing back here?" one of the geeks, a pimply chub in a Calvin and Hobbed T-shirt, asked.

Luckily, I had prepared for this question.

"Hi!" I said brightly. "I was wondering if you guys could help me."

They stared at me expressionless, so I pushed on.

"I was reading up on Heisenburg, and I had some questions about his uncertainty principle."

I had ducked into the computer lab on my way to class and Googled _German scientist._

I figured that maybe, if I could pretend to know about Otto Meyerhof and Fritz Strassmann and the rest of the science allstars, the nerds would aceept me as one of their own- and Zac would turn his attention somewhere else

Calvin's ears pricked up at the mention of the famous scientist, and a little squirrelly kid who had been picking his nose next to us straightened up in his seat. He wiped his offending finger off on the side of his jeans. I quivered in disgust.

"What's your question?" Calvin asked in a voice that was almost friendly.

"Um." I tried ton think up a question that wouldn't make me sound like an idiot. "What. . . _is_. . . the uncertainty principle?"

I asked lamely.

"That you can't observe both the position and the momentum of an object at the same time," Professor Pick-a-nose told me.

"Ah." I nodded wisely, but Calvin wasn't buying it.

"It's because the act of observing a system changes it?" he explained, in the same tone of voice I use to talk to my neighbor's two-year-old daughter, Maritza.

"Ohhhhh," I said, drawing the word out like the sun had just broken through the clouds. "Now I get it. Thanks."

He raised a dubious eyebrow. "Anything else?"

"Yeah. Wanna be conversation partners?" I asked, with a hopeful smile.

He regarded me for a minute. "Go away."

I sighed, then turned my attention to the goth girl seated on my other side.

"I hear Bauhaus might do a reunion tour," I offered.

She glowered at me, then got up and changed seats.

I glanced over at Zac- gorgeous, sexy, booger-free Zac- and made up my mind. Even though I had blown things with him romantically, maybe I could still salvage fifth period.

I took a deep breath and walked over to my old desk, holding up my hands in surrender.

"If I promise to keep my hand in sight at all times, I can sit with you?" I asked.

Zac smiled. "Just don't make any sudden movements."

I breathed a sigh of relief and slipped into my seat. "I'm sorry about what happened at the bonfire."

Zac shrugged. "It wasn't a big deal. At least, not unil you made it one."

I grimaced. "I was embarrassed."

"Okay, but if you hadn't ran away, we could have talked about it."

I gazed at him. Judging from his tone and expression , he seemed completely understanding.

"I know," I answered, dropping my eyes to my desktop. "I'm an idiot. And I'm just- I'm really, really shy about that stuff."

Zac paused for a second.

"You didnt seem shy," he said with wicked grin. "matter of fact you seemed downright pushy. Or- pully, as the case may be."

"Shut up," I said laughing but mortified. I gave him a playful slap on the arm.

"Ah!" Zac shrieked, pretending to cower. "You promised you wouldn't touch me!"

"Stop!" I said, laughing harder.

Herr Robinson frowned at me from the front of the room, where he was conjugating the verb _sein_ on the blackboared.

_"Entschuldigung! Mochten Sie Deutsch lernen?" _he asked. **(Check it out on Google Translator)**

_No idea._

_"Ja?" _I answered. Apparently satisfied, Herr Robinson turned back to the board.

Zac leaned toward me. "Seriously, though. Lets start over, okay? Because even though the bonfire was a bust, I'm new here, and I need all the friends I can get."

My heart sank a little.

The dreaded _**f**_ word. Zac wanted to be _**friends. **_I couldn't say I was surprised, after the way I'd acted.

I wanted to plunge a number-two- pencil into my heart, but instead I gave Zac a big smile. "I suppose that means you need a conversation partner too?"

"You bet." He smiled at me, then flipped open his textbook. "Maybe you can come over after school and we can get a jump on the translations."

"Um, sure," I answered.

Then Herr Robinson started the lesson.

_Okay, so maybe Zac only wanted to be friends, _I thought. _That's fine for now. Because once I get this whole scared-of-sex thing taken care of, anything can happen._

I glanced over at Zac.

_Anything.\_

"I don't get why'd you _**want**_ to stay friends with him," Chad said later that afternoon. "He's such a- a hall monitor."

We were standing by our lockers after last class, and I had just told Chad and Tawni that no, I wouldn't be accompanying them to Pizza Hut, because I had other plans.

"He's the first ex-boyfriend I've ever had that I'm not too embarrassed to talk to!" I repeated. "It's like. . . a miracle."

"First of all, you guys had, like, half of a date, so I don't know if _ex-boyfriend_ applies," Chad said.

I opened my mouth to protest.

"But even if it does," He hurried to add, "why would you want to hang out with a guy like _that_?"

My answer was drowned by a burst of cheering.

"P-S-Y! C-H-E-D! psyched is what we wanna be!"

Van Dyke Fielding, Chad's arch-nemesis, came strolling down the hall with a couple of his thuggish goon friends.

They were on their way to practice, and the cheerleaders were accompanying them, clapping and chanting.

"Get psyched! Aw' right! Aw' right, get psyched!"

As they passed us by, Van Dyke nudged Chad with his shoulder, just hard enough to knock him off balancce and make him drop his calculus book.

Chad stooped to pick it up, but before he could reach it, one of the goons kicked it, sending Chad's homework sprawling down the hall.

"Stupid juicers," Chad muttered.

The rest of the jocks strode past, not even glancing in Chad's direction. I rescued his textbook, and Tawni managed to capture the homework before too many people had trampled on it.

"God, what losers," Tawni said, staring daggers at their receding backs.

"Eh, the steroids'll get 'em," I said. "You know, I've heard it shrinks your you-know-what-to-" I held my thumb and forefinger up about an inch apart.

It was a joke, but Chad didnt laugh.

"I _**hate **_those guys," he said, "And now you're becoming friends with one of them."

"Who, Zac?" I asked, surprised. "He's nothing like Van Dyke."

"He's on the lacross team," Chad argued.

"Big deal. Stella Mallone plays flute in orchestra, and we're nothing like her," I said.

"That's completely different," Chad insisted.

"No, it's not." I held firm.

"Come on, Sonny, you can't actually _like_ him," Chad argued.

"He's a _joiner_."

He said this the same way you might say _child molester_ or _crackhead._

"You've spent the last _eleven years _making fun of people like him," Chad said.

This was true. However-

"Why are you being such a jerk?" I asked, more curious than mad.

"He's just bitter," Tawni piped up. "Because he had a chance to lose his virginity and blew it."

"Tawni!" Chad and I both turned on her.

I gritted my teeth. "You promised me you wouldn't mention it."

"I can't belive you told _Tawni_," Chad yelped, affronted.

"Why wouldn't she tell me?" Tawni asked. She narrowed her eyes at Chad. "You know maybe it's a good thing you guys aren't hooking up. You end up keeping secrets from me."

"There's nothing to keep secret," Chad snapped, "because we're not doing anything."

"Then stop acting like a jerk," Tawni countered.

"_You're_ the jerk!" Chad told her.

"Oh my God!" I covered my ears with my hands. "This is completely ridiculous. Chad, I'm sorry I told Tawni, but it's not like anything happened anyway. Tawni, I asked you not to mention it, but now that's done, so can we all just move on and pretend I never asked Chad to have sex?"

They both looked at me for a second, Then Chad turned back to Tawni. "And I so don't care about being a virgin."

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that."

I threw my hands in the air, exasperated. "You guys work this out for yourselves. I've got to go meet my brand new friend Zac."

I slammed my locker door shut and strode off towards the student parking lot, leaving my dearest and their insanity behind.

**A/N: we'll get there eventually :) hope u enjoyed!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

"Do you think it's too late to switch to Spanish?" I asked, pushing my textbook away from me and leaning back in my chair to stretch.

Zac shook his head. "Not possible. If you did, we'd never find out if Ilsa and Klaus made it to the train station on time."

"You're right," I agreed. "I wouldn't be able to sleep, not knowing."

We'd been sitting at Zac's kitchen table, doing our homework, for the last three hours.

I was, to coin a phrase, German-ed out.

"You wanna take a break?" Zac asked, getting up and carrying our empty soda cans to the garbage.

"Sure." I closed my book and followed him into the living room.

An hour later I had busted out of jail, held up a burger joint, and propositioned a hooker. **(A/N:They were playing video games) **To be honest, I felt pretty good about it. I was in the middle of trying to steal a cop car when Zac's front door opened.

A little kis who was dressed up like a robot came zooming in. He raced over to the couch and hurled himself on top of Zac, knocking the controller out of my hand and sending Carl to his grave for the final time. (That was the name of my character in the video game)

Zac laughed and hugged the kid, then swooped him through the air and set down on the floor in front of us.

"Who are you?" the kid asked, fixing his gaze on me.

"I'm Sonny," I told him. "Are you a Power Ranger?"

"No. I'm a Bionicle! Duh!" he shouted, and raced out of the room.

"That's my brother, Charlie," Zac said.

"Cute, but why is he in a costume?" I asked.

Zac shrugged, amused. "He refuses to take it off, and I guess my stepmom just got tired of arguing with him."

A second later a pretty blond woman poked her head into the room.

"Hey Karen," Zac called. "This is my friend Sonny. We were just doing our homework together."

Karen's gaze ticked over the Tv. "So I see," she said with a wry smile. "Dinner will be ready in about a half hour, Sonny will you be staying?"

Zac gave me a "why not?" look, so I smiled. "Thanks."

I called home and checked with my mom. Thirty minutes later I was back at Zac's kitchen table, with a plate of chicken and mashed potatoes, listening to Charlie wax on at length about what he wanted to be for Halloween.

"I'm gonna be King Kong," he said. "Or maybe Darth Maul, except only if I can have a real double light saber, not two regular light sabers taped together."

I decided to take another shot at winning him over. "You don't want to dress up as a Bionicle?"

Charlie sighed, as if it caused him physical pain to talk to someone as dim-witted as me.

"I _am_ a Bionicle," he explained. "I don't need to dress up as one."

The rest of his family chuckled as I mentally crossed _nanny_ off my list of future career posibilities.

"You've still got plenty of time to decide," Zac's father told Charlie. "Halloween 's more than a month away."

"Yeah, but when it's here, can we go to the haunted house again like we did last year?"

"Well, we'll have to find a different one," Karen said, "But I'm sure it'll be just as scary."

"There was an actual haunted house in the neighborhood where we used to live in Texas,"Zac explained. "It was this gigantic mansion owned by this rich old lady-"

"She was over a hundred years old!" Charlie interjected, his eyes widening at the memory.

"It was haunted by the spirits of soldiers who had died at the Alamo, and every year on Halloween the lady would let people tour the house and see if they could spot the ghost."

"I saw a ghost!" Charlie said.

"You did not," Zac answered.

"I did. I saw a ghost and I punched it and got ghost brains all over my hand."

Zac rumpled his little brother's hair.

"We have an entire haunted street," I told Charlie. "It's called Irwin Road, and It's out in the middle of nowhere, in the woods. Everytime somone drives down it, it changes shape, and the people who live on it are devil worshipers!"

Charlie's eyes got even wider, and he grabbed Zac's arm.

"Whoa! Can we go there? Can we go to Irwin Road with Sonny tonight?"

_Ha! _I thought. _Got' im! Third time's a charm._

Karen shook her head. "Tonight your taking a bath, and then bedtime."

Charlie's chin started to quiver, so Zac gave him a little chuck on his shoulder. "Tell you what, maybe Sonny can show me where Irwin Road is tonight, and then I'll take you there this weekend."

"Yay!" Charlie turned back to his ashed potatoes, and Zac smiled across the table.

"That cool?" he asked me.

"Sure. Only- I'm not exactly sure how to get there- Chad always drives."

"So? Let's call him and see if he wants to go."

"Really?" I gulped.

"Why not?" Zac said.

_Because Chad thinks you're a hall monitor, _I thought.

Then it occured to me- Zac was, for certain, a cool guy.

If I'd ever had any doubts about it, spending the evening with him had proved them wrong.

He was sweet, funny, and smart- even if he didn't like the exact same things I did. If Chad and Tawni actually spent time with Zac, They'd see for themselves how excellent he was.

And what better place for them to get to know each other than far away from school, where, with a bit of luck, the opprtunities for snarkiness would be at a minimum?

"Yeah. Why not?" I agreed. "What's the worst that could happen?"

I called Tawni first since she didnt seem to have any problems with Zac and, in our group, majority rules.

She said going for a drive down Irwin Road aounded genius, especially since Chad had been forcing her to watch _Russian Arks_, and as far as she was concerned, even a pillow polo tournament would be a better way to spend the evening.

Thay arrived at Zac's house a few minutes later, and while Chad didnt look thrilled, he did shake the hand Zac offered without making any comments about the ludicrousness of teenagers shaking hands.

He did, however, raise an eyebrow at me- just to let me know he was thinking it.

"How'd you get him to come?" I whispered to Tawni as we were walking out to the car.

"I promised him we'd all watch Russian Ark tomorrow-"

I shrugged. "That's not so bad-"

"_With _the directors commentary and the DVD extras."

I groaned. Bor-ring. But it would be worth it if , at the end of this little field trip, everyone liked each other.

Zac and I piled into the backseat of Chad's old Honda and he pulled out into the street.

"Ready to see Greenwich's only urban legend?" Tawni asked.

Zac nodded. "I had no idea that California was such a hot spot for devil worshippers."

"Well they mostly come for the tax breaks," Chad said.

Tawni turned half way around in the passenger seat so she could talk to us. "No, seriously, it's really scary. The roads really curvy, so you never know what's arounf the next bend." Lots of people have crashed their cars because the roads turn unexpectantly-"

"And then the devil worshipers come and use the people trapped in their cars as human sacrifices!" I added.

"Man. That would make a great horror movie," Zac observed.

For the first time since we got in the car, Chad perked up.

"Only if the devil worshipers are children. _Nothing_ is scarier than an evil child."

"No way." Zac shook his head. "_**Mirrors**_. That's the scariest thing in a horror movie."

"Oh my God, like that one where the person looks in the mirror and they only see the back of their head!" Tawni said. "What movie was that one?"

"There have been, like, half a dozen where that happened," I told her.

"I just meant the way you always see someone in the mirror behind you," Zac said.

"Oh, man. What if you saw an _**evil child **_in the mirror behind you?" Chad asked. "Super-terrifying."

We all agreed. I smiled. This was going well.

"I tell you ever since I saw _**The Ring**_, I can barely even be in a room with Tv," I offered.

Zac turned to me. "Have you ever seen the original, in Japanese? _**Ringu? **_It's way more scary."

"Which is why I would never see it," I told him.

"Oh, but the director, Hideo Nakata, is brilliant," Zac said.

"You like Nakata?" Chad asked, craning around in his seat to look at Zac.

"Careful!" Tawni said.

Chad swerved, narrowly missing a street sign. He readjusted the rearview mirror so he could see Zac clearly.

"Yeah, I love him," Zac said. "But Nakagawa's way better. Have you seen _Kaiidan?"_

"Only a crap VHS copy," Chad answered.

"I have it on DVD, I'll lend it to you," Zac said.

I leaned back in seat, a fizzy, happy feeling in my head.

I had no idea who or what _Kaiidan_ was, but I couldn't have planned the conversation any better.

Chad and Noah compared obscure horror films the whole drive until we got to the turnoff to Irwin Road.

I didn't believe the stories, of course, but I still felt a little shiver up my spine. Irwin Road was a spooky place. It cut through a dense section of woods, with a wall of trees pressed up against both sides of the road.

The branches formed a dark, tangled canopy overhead, blocking out any trace of moonlight. The road was a series of hairpin turns , without a single straight stretch longer than fifty feet.

What made it especially scary was that someone had nailed odd hexes and crosses and symbols to the trunks of the trees, at just the right level so your headlights would glint off them as you rounded the curves.

The first time we'd ever driven down it, right after Chad got his license, someone had hung a noose from one of the overhead branches. It slapped our winshield as we drove under it. I screamed so hard it was a miracle I didn't wet my pants.

At that moment I wondered- why had I agreed to come here again?

Zac put a hand on my knee and squeezed. "Here we go," He whispered.

Oh yeah. That's why.

Chad shut off the radio as he tuened his car onto Irwin Road. We all rolled down our windows, as is the custom.

It was beyond dark, the trees absorbing the feeble light from our headlights. As we rolled through, we heard odd rustlings and strange snapping noises in the woods. It was scene straight out _The Blair Witch Project,_only I wasn't dumb enough to get out of the car.

The cold air whipped through the opened windows, and I started shivering.

We went down the first three bends in silence, but as Chad started to turn the car into the fourth, trees sprang up blocking our path, and the road swooped in an unexpected direction.

We all gasped as Chad yanked hard on the steering wheel , getting the car back on the road. As it straightened out, headlights hit a shiny squiggle nailed onto one of the trees. The odd symbol flashed as the headlights struck it, the reflection momentarily blinding us.

I shriecked and Chad shushed me. "The devil vorshippers vill hear you!" he said in a Dracula voice.

We all giggled.

As we neared the place where Irwin Road reconnected with the highway, Tawni let out a sigh. "I think we made it."

Zac nudged me with his elbow, then leaned his head close to mine. "Watch this," he whispered in my ear.

He snuck his hand out of his opened window and and stretched his arm forward to the passenger side where Tawni was sitting. Even in the dark, I could see his grin.

He reached inside Tawni's window- and grabbed her shoulder!

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!" Tawni screamed. She jumped a mile into the air and swatted hysterically at the place where Zac had touched her. "Oh my God, what was that? What was that?"

Zac and I howled with laughter. Chad, knowing immediately what had happened, laughed himself and nearly ran off the road for real.

Finally Tawni stopped screaming long enough to notice that we were all cracking up. She whirled around in her seat to face us.

"Was that you?" she shouted, looking like was torn between laughing and murdering us.

"I'm sorry," Zac gasped "I just couldn't resist."

We were still laughing when we finally made it back to the safety of the highway. Chad pulled into a Dunkin' Donuts so we could soothe our shaky nerves with powedered sugar.

Tawni and I grabbed a booth as the boys went up to the counter to get our snacks. I was dying to ask her what she thought of Zac, but I didn't want to risk being overheard, so I just raised my eyebrows in question.

She answered with a smile.

Chad came over to the table and slid into the seat next to Tawni. Zac took a seat next to me.

"Hey, I was thinking," Zac said as he set the tray of doghnuts down on the table, "we should start a film club at Sterling."

Uh-oh. Things had been going so well. I'd tought we were home free. I caught Chad and Tawni exchanging a quick glance and said a silent prayer that everything wouldn't fall to pieces now.


	11. Chapter 11

Hey guys I am so sorry that I haven't continued the story but if any one of you want to continue it just pm me.


End file.
